it ain't just Osbo who is inumerate

Most of the Tory government is unable to function in the
jobs which they view as their birthright. Politics, that is.

The Torys decided to adopt the results of a gov study,
and raise fees for Uni students. In this way, uni students
are paying all the cost of their education. every last penny.
Most countries realise the benefit to the country of Uni,
and so students usually pay below 20% of the cost,
except in the UK and the US.

Weeehell. It turns out that they made two mathematical
errors in doing this dastardly plan , as if they cared.

Firstly, the money that they would be getting by deducting
tuition payments from tax would be astronomical for
somebody who was earning nearly £100K, which is
thankfully very rare.
(9% of income, per year)

Secondly, the gov have recognised the data that say
that kids just can't pay. The jobs market sucks,
thanks to UK gov austerity. So, the gov is not
getting as much money as it expected.
I guess their next move is to raise fees.

They have already tried to sell of the loan book
for the students to private vultures, which will
mean calls 24/7, bailiffs and court fees.

So , you can see how a country in decline feeds
on its young. That's the US and the UK.

Perfect. remind me. what was the purpose of
uni education, anyway?

checkit: Guardian

Tuition fees: former Tory adviser says government got its maths wrong

Nick Hillman, who worked for David Willetts on student loans regime, calls for action over looming university funding gap

    Rowena Mason, Shiv Malik, James Ball            

    Friday 21 March 2014 20.01 GMT            

    Jump to comments (553)

A former political adviser to the Tory universities minister, David Willetts, has called for a rethink of the tuition fees system and admitted the government "got its maths wrong" by overestimating the amount of student debt that will be repaid.

Nick Hillman, who worked for Willetts during the introduction of the policy, made the comments after it emerged that the rate of default on student loans is now so high that the £9,000-a-year tuition fees system could end up producing zero financial reward for the government.

Speaking to the Guardian, Hillman called for action to address the "big funding gap" looming in the universities sector caused by mistakes in the government's modelling and the fact that graduates are earning less than expected.

Last night, the Universities UK alliance of higher education institutions urged the coalition to open talks with Labour on the issue, saying it was vital to think more carefully about how universities can be paid for.

Under the current fees regime students start paying their loans back once they are earning over £21,000 at a rate of 9% of their salary above £15,000. Ministers originally thought in 2010 that 28% of student loans would never be repaid and have revised this upwards several times. The Guardian revealed Willetts' admission that the true figure is now more like 45% – fast approaching the 48% threshold at which experts say the benefits of raising fees to £9,000 are cancelled out.

Willetts has previously denied that the changing estimates are any kind of "deep defect in the system", saying changes to the numbers are purely a result of people temporarily earning less than expected. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that the universities sector was well funded and the "estimates can and will continue to change".

But Hillman said there was no denying that "the government has got it wrong and therefore there is a big funding gap and something has to be done about it".

He said: "The thing that hasn't really entered the debate yet … is now we know how big the shortfall is, what do you do about it? How much would you need to change the loan system to actually solve the problem? I'm not defending the government. The government has got the maths wrong, plus the economy has changed. The £21,000 repayment threshold is in real terms much higher than the government expected."…